Nintendo recently officially revealed the Switch 2, the successor to their popular Switch video game console. The pre-orders were to being on April 9, but Nintendo has announced that it is delaying the pre-orders due to the new tariffs enacted in the US by President Trump set to go into effect on April 5. The new console was to retail for $450 but the tariffs could, and likely would, drive the price much higher.

The official statement from Nintendo:

Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.

President Trump announced a 10% across the board tariff rate with some countries seeing much higher rates including China, Vietnam, and Japan, where a lot of video game production happens.

In 2023 the top five countries who exported video game-related equipment included:

1. China (accounting for 58.1% of exports)
2. Japan (6.75)
3. United States (5.6%)
4. Vietnam (4.5%)
5. Germany (4.3%)

What makes Nintendo’s decision and launch more difficult is the erratic nature of President Trump who has threatened and enacted a lot of economic hardship and has often delayed the implementation or soon walked it back after implementation.